Washington University students lean toward Obama

            As votes are cast, the word on Washington University students’ lips is Obama more often than not.  Issues of importance differ within the student population, but one response is common: change.

            “No matter which way [this election] goes, it is a turning point,” freshman international studies major Kathleen Brophy said. “Everything right now is on the balance. It’s on the edge. It can go completely in one direction; it can go in another direction. Things right now are at a very pivotal point so this [election] is going to determine the history of the world. … This is the election that determines the fate of [people] living 20 years from now.” 

            Washington University students who were interviewed collectively agreed that campaigning from both presidential candidates toward the end of election became aggravating.

            “I’ve always been an Obama supporter,” Brophy said. “I have family in Chicago so I followed him when he was their senator. I haven’t been able to watch him as much lately because he has been forced to act like such a politician and do the whole buzzwords and catchphrases. I’m just very turned off by that and I don’t want to watch it because I believe in him as a person.” 

            An important issue to one Washington University student is international affairs.

“Foreign policy and the war in [are significant to me],” junior math major Andy Wilson said. “I think [these issues] affect a lot of people both here and abroad. I think that how we come out in this election will shape how we interact with other countries for a long time.” 

One student voiced a unique view on the Washington University campus on the issue of the economy.

“I did support McCain, but it was a really tough decision for me because I’m mostly fiscally conservative and socially liberal,” senior biology-chemistry major Stephanie Brosius said. “Neither campaign was really going to cut back a lot on our debt which for me was a big problem. It was really hard to choose between the two because Obama has a lot of really great ideas, but we really just don’t have the money for them.”